United States Patent Application No. 20050239325 (Cook), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly recites that a “modular meter socket is releasably mountable in a housing. Support clips are disposed in the housing by fixing a mounting plate carrying the clips in the enclosure. A mounting panel fixedly carries the meter socket and is attached to the clips without the use of tools operative fasteners or additional fasteners. Alternately, a meter socket and a bypass device are unitarily mounted on a mounting panel for attachment to the clips in the housing. The meter socket and the bypass device may be mounted on separate panels, each attached to the clips in the housing without additional fasteners.” See Abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,670 (Billhartz), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly recites that a “watthour meter socket assembly of the type which engages the blades of a watthour meter. The blades are frictionally held by pairs of spring-loaded conductive jaws, which form the female contacts of the socket assembly. Helper springs are provided to increase the biasing of the jaws. In order to provide a conductive bypass when the meter is removed for servicing or replacement a reciprocable, conductive blade is mounted on a slide mechanism so that it can be wedged between the jaws. The wedging action simultaneously spreads the jaws apart, allowing removal of the meter.” See Abstract.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,040,921 (Kellerman), which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, allegedly recites that “[t]his invention relates to a socket assembly for a meter box. The socket assembly comprises a plurality of power line connectors for connection to electric power lines of an electric power line system and a meter bypass system. Each power line connector comprises a jaw, a jaw support and first and second sockets. The jaw support comprises a base, a jaw mount having spaced apart flanges and a contact arm. The base, jaw mount and contact arm are formed as a one-piece metal structure to provide a joint-free path for flow of electrical current. The first socket is formed between the jaw and jaw mount for receiving an electrical connector of the electric meter. The second socket is formed between the jaw and contact arm for receiving a slide connector of a bypass system. The slide connector is slidable between a meter operating position and a meter bypass position.” See Abstract.